Well it took some time, but I finally got around to activating the old light, USA-1254, near my parents home in Maine for an actual ARLHS event. I tried a new antenna along with my KX3, made some noise and made a few contacts. It could have been better, but the conditions were certainly challenging. Some notes follow.

The rig – Elecraft KX3 and power source

An Elecraft KX3 with 10 AH LiFePO4 battery makes for a simple to deploy rig. I ran 10 watts the entire time. Yes I wish I had more power in these conditions, but it is remarkable what can be done with little power with some patience. Here it is in my transport bag…

Rose bag for the Elecraft KX3, battery and accessories.

Here is the tabletop deployment…

Elecraft KX3 HF/6m Transceiver.

The antenna – LNR Precision EF-QUAD

I needed a quick antenna to take to the beach so ordered one of these from LNR Precision. I’ve been a fan of LNR since the PAR days. Read more about my interactions with them on my ham radio blog.

There isn’t much to this antenna. The primary feature is the 50 ohm to thousands of ohms transformer box to properly feed an antenna at a current node… namely the usually free end of the antenna.

Feed end of LNR Precision EF-QUAD 40, 20, 15 and 10m end fed antenna.

The antenna is a halfwave in length at its lowest band of 40m. Here is the other end as deployed this weekend…

Other end of LNR Precision EF-QUAD 40, 20, 15 and 10m end fed antenna.

The polyethylene coated antenna 18 AWG wire is a real treat to use and behaves reasonably well stowed or while installing. That’s weed trimmer line on the right. It’s the only thing I could find in the house to install the antenna.

Lots of renewals and new members

Things have been busy in the ARLHS, LLC back office with many renewals and several new members. As well the activation announcements trickle in for:

this weekend’s ARLHS NLLW,

the ILLW 3rd weekend in August and

many random light activations.

World List of Lights

The WLOL team continues to work through a backlog of proposals for entries to our light list. It seems our little WLOL list has become somewhat of a standard light reference. We regularly receive coordinate updates, corrections and other notes to help fine tune the information stored in our database. There’s no doubt the WLOL exists for amateur radio purposes, but has become much more to world at large. A big thank you to Dan (KD3CQ) and his merry gang of reviewers who analyze proposals and corrections with keen and careful eyes.

ARLHS Certificates

We can’t forget Tim (K4VDX) who has singlehandedly modernized the certificate process making it more efficient than ever. Many of you are already enjoying the product of Tim’s efforts. Thanks Tim!

ARLHS Cheerleader

Our cheerleader is, of course, Jim (KA3UNQ) who’s frequent messages keep us appraised of important details. I give Jim credit for giving the ARLHS flywheel a fresh spin just about every day. It certainly inspires me to keep doing what I do in the back office. Thanks and keep it up Jim.

ARLHS Activators

And of course our intrepid activators give us the contacts we desire for our logs. Thanks to all of them for the, all too often expensive and difficult, journeys to far away places in the pursuit of activating lights.

2018 has been a great year

Thanks to all for a great year so far. I hope to activate a light or two this weekend in Maine.